Monthly Archives: August 2015

To celebrate five years of publishing up-and-coming writers, Open Pen are to publish an anthology of their favourite stories so far in a paperback collection befitting the style and splendour of their print magazine. Alongside those stories, the book will feature a new piece of fiction from each of the corresponding authors. There’s a kickstarter campaign launching soon to support the project. Those who pledge will receive the anthology (in paperback – you may have noticed they have a thing for paperbacks). Those who pledge higher amounts will be rewarded with various collections of impressive art and fiction from their writers and illustrators, including a one-off zine featuring 15 flash fiction stories (if you’re a writer you can submit to that here). The rewards include: the George Orwell Reward (£3), the Bronte Sisters Reward (£5), the Jane Austen Reward (£8), the E.M Foster Reward (£10), the Virginia Woolf Reward…

Here’s my latest from Flash!Friday 3-36, for which I won Special Mention, specifically a “Scream Award for Horrifying Phone Communication Award”. This week’s stories had to include two story elements from The Great Gatsby. I chose the elements of character–jealous husband (I did boyfriend) and theme–obsession.

Submissions for Issue 1 (September 2015) of The Nottingham Review close on Friday the 21st of August! However, anything received after this date will still be considered for Issue 2 (December 2015). The first issue is almost complete, but there’s still room for one or two more stories, so if you’ve got something you’d like to be considered for the inaugural issue then please submit! (Submission guidelines available here).

If anyone is a reviewer/blogger (or please pass this along if you know anyone who is) and would be interested in receiving an advance digital copy of Issue 1, please get in touch at thenottinghamreview@gmail.com

Hello everyone. I’m delighted to announce that my fifth online creative writing course has just gone live on Udemy.com and I’m offering them all half-price for a limited time (the first 50 students enrolling on each course). You can see my courses via my tutor page, but I’ve listed the details below. If you have any queries or would like further information, do let me know.

Online only – five available to-date via Udemy (the other courses to follow in the next few weeks are detailed here):

make your book pitch-ready (price: £19 / $25) – new June 2015 – offer for August 2015: the next 50 students enrolling can receive this course for half price by entering the code MYBPR-HALF-50 (or click here)

writer’s block workbook – volume 1 (£7 / $9) – new June 2015 – offer for August 2015: the next 50 students enrolling can receive this course for half price by entering the…

Shooter welcomes short fiction, non-fiction and poetry that pertains to the strange and fantastical, oddballs and eccentrics, weird and wonderful, transgressive and transcendent. Writers might consider the juxtaposition of the bizarre with the everyday and the unusual within the ordinary. Other starting points include dreams, nightmares, symbolism, places where anything can happen and things that are not as they seem.

Shooter invites writers to explore the limits of their imagination, but keep in mind that writing must be of a literary standard: beautifully written, well crafted stories with compelling characters, and poetry that is rooted in meaning. Prose pieces should run between 2,000 and 7,500 words. Writers may submit one story and up to three poems per issue. The deadline is October 25th, 2015. Please visit Shooter’s Submissions page for further guidelines.